Does Selling as a Competitive Advantage Make Sense for Your Company?Perhaps the most powerful attribute of a good strategic plan is how the company plans to distinguish itself from the competition in a way that is not easily replaced or replicated. With the pace of change and disruption today, it is certainly not easy to get ahead and clearly differentiate yourself.
For those struggling with how to stand apart from the pack, the encouraging news is that Gartner Research reports that over 50 percent of customer loyalty is driven by how you sell – more than the impact of your brand, product, service, and price combined. Wow.
The even better news is that how you sell (your sales experience) is the one thing your company can still design, improve, measure, and control in a way that is difficult to replicate or replace. This creates a wonderful opportunity for sales driven companies to use selling as a formidable competitive advantage for growth and profitability.
The Sales Challenge Let’s start with the current state of sales. Even though U.S. companies report spending over $15 billion each year on sales training, most sales reps are struggling. A recent Selling Power survey found that only:
- 6% of sales teams achieved or exceeded quota in the last 24 months
- 8% of sales leaders believe that their salespeople have a consistently healthy sales pipeline
Combine that with the sobering fact that buyers report that over three-quarters of solution sellers do not clearly understand their key issues, are unclear how they can add meaningful value, and are not well prepared to answer questions or to share relevant case studies to substantiate what sets them apart.
That sounds like a wonderful untapped opportunity. Now is the time to strategically invest in selling to sharpen your competitive advantage. | 
